With the Republican presidential candidates preparing to square off Monday night in a Tampa debate sponsored by CNN and the Tea Party Express, two new national polls found that Gov. Rick Perry continues to lead the race for the GOP nomination.
Perry led the CNN/Opinion Research poll with 32 percent, followed by former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts with 21 percent. Texas Congressman Ron Paul took third with 13 percent. The rest of the field trailed in single digits. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota tied former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia in fourth with 7 percent followed by businessman Herman Cain with 6 percent. Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah lagged with 2 percent each.
When two possible candidates -- former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- were added to the mix, Perry still led by double digits. In that scenario, Perry topped the poll with 30 percent followed by Romney with 18 percent and Palin in third with 15 percent. Paul took fourth with 12 percent. Cain and Gingrich tied for fifth with 5 percent while Bachmann fell to seventh with 4 percent. Santorum and Huntsman continued to garner 2 percent each.
Perry led Romney by similar margins in a CNN/Opinion Research poll taken from Aug. 24-25. Bachmann, who won the Iowa Republican straw poll last month, has stumbled since that poll in which she scored in double digits in both scenarios.
The poll of 446 Republicans was taken from Sept. 9-11 and had a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percent.
Perry also led a poll from the Economist and You Gov released over the weekend. Perry led the pack with 29 percent with Romney in a distant second place with 13 percent. Giuliani took third with 9 percent followed by Palin and Paul who were tied with 8 percent each. Three other candidates -- Bachmann, Huntsman and Cain -- were knotted in sixth with 5 percent apiece. Santorum lagged behind. The sample of likely Republican primary voters was part of a total survey of 1,000 likely voters taken from Sept. 3-6. The poll had a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
